


blinking in the starlight

by whatcaniwriteinthis



Category: Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard - Rick Riordan
Genre: Crushes, Cutesy shit, Experimental Style, F/M, Fluff, For a Friend, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, M/M, Nicknames, Other, pure fluff man, sorta - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-16
Updated: 2017-06-16
Packaged: 2018-11-14 20:22:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11215608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whatcaniwriteinthis/pseuds/whatcaniwriteinthis
Summary: It took a while, but eventually Magnus thought the thought he didn’t want to think. The problem with thoughts is that you can’t un-think them.





	blinking in the starlight

**Author's Note:**

  * For [herimperialpunniness](https://archiveofourown.org/users/herimperialpunniness/gifts).



> short fluff piece for herimperialpunniness as thanks for prompting me with a "Magnus realizing he's insanely attracted to Alex" to which i said "so basically what we want the ship of the dead to be"

It took a while, but eventually Magnus thought the thought he didn’t want to think. No fanfare, no ceremony, just a simple _Oh_. And then an _Oh no_.

The problem with thoughts is that you can’t un-think them. That’s actually the problem with a lot of things. There is no undo button, except on computers. Real life, even when you’re dead, doesn’t offer you that luxury.

Magnus was picking at a bit of dead skin on his palm. Handling a sword often meant calluses were forming on his hands. He was no stranger to calluses, but these were a very particular type- the type that came from weapons in competent hands. He’d seen them before, on the homeless veterans that hung out by the shelter and other people that he very quickly learnt to avoid.

He was picking at the dead skin, because he was trying to ignore the urge to stare at Alex, who was dressed like he was _trying_ to get people to stare. He flounced over to Magnus- flounced, because there’s no other way to describe his movement in his frilly skirt. It was bright green, like most of Alex’s clothes, and he was wearing absurdly long socks under them. He sat down next to Magnus and grinned happily at him. Magnus gave himself a moment to take Alex in: his long hair pulled back, his legs angled so they’re pushed out yet facing in, and, worst of all, inordinately happy smile on his face. And by worst, Magnus also meant best.

“Who did you kill?” he asked drily. He rested his hands down on the table, and ignored lunch in favor of Alex. It wasn’t a hard decision.

“Oh, ha ha.” Alex rolled his eyes. “Can’t I be happy without having to commit murder?”

“You could have committed assault.” Magnus pointed out. Alex laughed, but his heart wasn’t in it, and his smile dulled a little. Magnus automatically felt bad, and scrambled to recover. “Of course, being dead gives you a certain exemption from the law others would be hard pressed to find. We could rob a bank and get away with it.” Alex laughed again, but it’s much more real this time.

“Can’t arrest me if I’m dead.” Alex agreed, and his smile was more alive. Magnus smiled back. His stomach, which was growling before Alex walked in, clenched melodramatically, and then dropped like he was on a roller coaster.

Being dead may exempt you from things like taxes and aging, but it doesn’t liberate you from crushing. And that’s what Magnus was doing. He was crushing _hard_ on Alex, who didn’t seem to notice or care. Instead, Alex just steals a piece of meat off Magnus’s plate.

“Hey!” Magnus protests. Alex just smirks at him and licks the sauce from the meat off of his fingers. Magnus finds himself no longer mad, just… something in between aroused and fond. He didn’t think the two feelings could exist together. Fond was innocent; aroused was crass. Yet here they were, inside him, at the same time, as if one was independent of the other.

As Magnus was distracted, Alex took the opportunity to sneak more food off his plate. Magnus, realizing, sighed and just pushed the plate to Alex. Alex made a happy noise and ate some more, poking among the meat and vegetables for specific pieces he wanted. Magnus rested his head on the empty space where his plate was, feeling disproportionately tired.

Crushes were tiring.

“Eat.” Alex said a little later, poking Magnus’s arm with the butt of a fork. Magnus lifted his head a little and obligingly opened his mouth. He didn’t expect Alex to do so, but Alex dropped some food into his mouth. Magnus ate it and realized it was the type of piece he would have shifted through to find himself. Alex knew what kind of potato he liked and he wasn’t very sure what to do with this new piece of information.

Magnus put his head back down onto his arms and let his eyes drift shut. After lunch, the residents of floor 19 were to head to Decapitating Yoga (Halfborn’s idea), but they were also free to skip. Magnus, tired out by the simple act of existing, found himself drawn towards the latter idea.

“Do you think our cells still work?” Alex asked him suddenly. Magnus didn’t bother to sit up but he did make an inquisitive noise. “Like, are my cells still respiring? Are they still dividing? Is there still a meiotic cycle or are they trapped in interphase?”

“Only got a middle school education.” Magnus reminded Alex sleepily, but he didn’t mind too much. Alex was a champion conversationalist, once you passed the outer layers of utter rudeness and sarcasm. He had this amazing skill of talking about something you might not even know about, in a way that made it easy for you to understand, for a very long time. He just didn’t do it very often, because it was very difficult to pass the outer layers of rudeness and sarcasm.

“How are our bodies functioning?” Alex asked, in a manner that indicated he had summed up his previous questions.

Magnus, wanting to mess with him a little, simply answered, “Magic.” Alex made a noise between frustration at his apathy and delight at his humor.

TJ sat down violently next to Magnus, interrupting the focus of Alex’s attention on Magnus. Magnus would have been surprised at the loudness of TJ, except that was how TJ always sat. There was still a ghost of surprise though; his battle instincts were too important to be forgotten by the way someone sat.

Alex flicked a pea at TJ. Magnus didn’t mourn it. TJ grabbed another pea and flicked it at Alex in retaliation. Magnus grabbed his plate back before they could escalate into a full out war.

TJ rolled his eyes and asked, “Are you going to yoga today?” Alex shrugged. Magnus mumbled a “no”. “Well _I_ am. Have fun with your unflexible bodies.” He ruffled Magnus’s hair and left.

“Isn’t it ‘inflexible’?” Alex asked quietly. Magnus laughed. Alex, pleased, rewarded him with another piece of potato.

  

* * *

 

 

They didn’t go to yoga. Instead, they stretched out together in Alex’s atrium; Magnus’s head was on Alex’s stomach, in a daring move he didn’t think himself capable of. Alex started petting his hair, slow fingers moving through his curls. Magnus found himself drifting into the peaceful liminal space between being asleep and being awake.

“Hey Beantown,” Alex called gently.

“Don’t call me that.” Magnus mumbled.

“Maggie.” Alex tried. Magnus made a noise of repulsion. “Magazine,”

“That’s worse.”

“Mango.” Alex tried again. Magnus hummed noncommittally. “Mango it is. Hey, Mango.” Alex called.

“Hmm?” Magnus replied. He wasn’t sure what he was feeling in that moment; happy didn’t cut it. Content was better, but such a weighted word scared him.

“Do you like me?” Alex asked, with an air of attempted casualness. Magnus stilled. The happy feeling was being eroded by nervousness.

Magnus took a deep, steadying breath. “Yes.” he whispered. Under his head, Alex’s stomach tightened as she sat up. She was above Magnus’s head now, looking down at him with an expression he couldn’t read.

“Seriously?” she asked, in a small voice.

“Yeah.” Magnus breathed. She was so close, her eyes so wide and beautiful. A small smile spread across Alex’s face, bright but contained. Magnus smiled back, a little relieved. Alex kissed him gently on the nose.

“I like you too.” she said. She kissed his cheek, and then his other, and then his forehead. Magnus tilted his head upwards, and kissed her mouth.

**Author's Note:**

> [*cough tumblr cough*](http://probablypartiallyinsane.tumblr.com/)


End file.
